F. L. "Bubba" Copeland, the mayor of Smiths Station and pastor at the First Baptist Church of Phenix City, on the state border with Columbus, Georgia, had taken his own life.
It followed a slow pursuit by officers attending a welfare check.Lee County Sheriff's Office made no connection between the publication of the article and Copeland's suicide, and Newsweek has not found evidence to suggest it was a factor in his death.
We approached Poor and 1819 News via email for comment on Monday.Two days prior, 1819 News had published a story noting how Copeland had created an alter-ego for himself as a transgender woman.
He wore his wife's clothes in social-media posts, interacted with members of the LGBTQ+ community, and wrote erotic transgender fiction.Copeland told the outlet in an interview ahead of the article's publication that the posts were a hobby and a fantasy he had done to relieve stress since his youth.